The addition would give the conference 17 basketball teams, but only 9 football teams. It also give them their first school west of the Mississippi.

The move gives TCU access to the conference's automatic BCS bid, but it's not clear that playing Big East teams would even benefit them much in the rankings.

They received an automatic bid by being ranked No. 3, while only one Big East team is currently in the Top 25 of the BCS standings.

The move also gets them away from Boise State who will join the Mountain West Conference after this year. Those two teams combined might have been enough for the MWC to steal the Big East's automatic bid when it comes up review after 2012. However, it also would have forced them to play each other every year, damaging their chances to go undefeated.

TCU has gone undefeated the past two regular seasons, but has yet to be given a shot to play for a national title.

They will also be located an average of 1,140 miles from its conference opponents.